Endless Possibilities
by Ozlex
Summary: Donny has finally figured out a problem he's been working on his entire life. For four ninja turtles and their rat sensei, life will never be the same... but is the price too great.
1. Chapter 1

A.N. This story was inspired by the following awesome picture on Deviantart. If you follow the link (without the spaces of course) you will find out what this story is all about ;D

h t t p : / / s t e r e o p h I l I c . d e v I a n t a r t . c o m / a r t / T M N T – D o n a t e l l o – B a t t l e – M o d e - 8 3 9 6 0 5 0 5

Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT…. Dang nabbit

**Endless Possibilities **

Chapter 1

It was just another day for Raph as he walked out of the dojo. The punching bag swung sluggishly behind him having just taken 10 rounds with his green fists, Leonardo was meditating with Master Splinter in his room and Mikey was plunked down in front of their multiple television tower watching 3 cartoons at once. Everything was perfectly normal with the scene from the smelly incense wafting from Sensei's room to the annoying drone of childish music in the lounge room. Everything was perfectly normal… until his immediately younger brother Donatello came rushing out of his room grinning like a mad man only to promptly collapse on the floor.

Mikey as usual eloquently summed up the situation with a single word, "Whoa…"

Raphael ran over to his brother now sprawled face down across the rug, "DONNY!" Turning the turtle onto his shell he quickly assessed the purple wearer's condition, "Donny…?"

"What the shell… He's just asleep."

At Raphael's assessment Mikey burst out laughing not able to the stand the look of disbelief spread across Raph's face which had begun to turn crimson as anger consumed him.

"Bloody brainiac, gave me a shellin' heart attack. What does he think he's doing?" Raphael stood up letting Don's head thump back onto the floor with little consideration whether it woke the turtle up.

"Awww… Come on Raph look how cute he is when he's asleep? I mean nothing like the brilliant maniac we all know him to be. Besides I'm pretty sure he hasn't slept in like, ummm… four days."

"Four days… really?" Leonardo asked, coming to investigate the commotion he couldn't help but hear from Master Splinter's room.

"Yeah, haven't you guys noticed? Like every night this week, dude's been awake when I've clonked out on the couch."

"Now that you mention it, Don's been awake before me in the morning lately. I just assumed he wanted to start off his day nice and early like me."

"Yeah Leo, everyone wants to be just like you." Raph scoffed, not able to help himself.

After throwing a glare at Raph, a guilty expression came across Leo's face. "I can't believe we didn't notice?"

Raph knew exactly how Leo was feeling. He was the brother who usually wound up either tying Don to the bed or just knocking him unconscious when the small turtle was too engrossed in a project to sleep. For Donny to have gone four days without sleep made Raph feel like the crummiest brother ever to walk the Earth.

It was easy to do though. Donny often got overlooked and sometimes ignored by his family, although never intentionally. Being the other middle child Raphael also got this treatment to some extent, but he made up for it with his explosive personality. Don was always the quiet one though, content with just being in the background until his family needed him. Having to deal with Michelangelo's exuberance, Raphael's unstable emotions and Leonardo's insecurities as children Splinter had unintentionally allowed Donny to take a back seat to his brothers needs.

This had all led to the current events, of Donny lying in the middle of the floor sleeping peacefully.

There was even a small puddle of drool growing beneath his head.

"Well I guess we should get him into his room?"

"You're right Raph, that floor can't be any good for his back. Speaking of bad backs, have I told you guy's how mine's been playing up lately? Guess I shouldn't be lifting anything heavy?" Mikey was already shuffling towards his original place on the couch at the mention of physical labor.

"Sheesh, Mikey thanks for the help?" Sighing Raphael moved towards Donny's feet as Leo moved to grab Don by the shoulders. "You ready?"

It was a testament to exactly how exhausted Donny was that he didn't wake up once the entire trip. Not even when Leo "accidently" knocked his head into the door frame. Walking into the lab/bedroom Raphael noticed straight away that this wasn't any normal obsessive exhaustion on Donnie's part. The purple turtle couldn't be called a neat freak, but he always had a place for everything. No matter how into a project or experiment he was, his lab was always exactly the way he wanted it. There was no way the lab's current state was how Don wanted it.

Sheets full of calculation covered every free space including some of the ceiling. On the whiteboard Donnie had salvaged even more space for calculations writing some straight over the old ones. Raph even saw an equation which started on the blackboard and continued over Don's wall. Most disturbing of all though was the fact that not only had Don left both his computer's on, but the Bunsen burner still happily boiling a beaker of some unknown chemical in the middle of his desk. The only tidy area of the room seemed to be the bed which looked like it hadn't been used in a while other than to hold papers.

Carefully navigating the mess, the two brothers carried the third over to the mostly tidy bed and gently lay the exhausted turtle down.

"What do you think all this stuff is about? I mean what in the shell has Don been doing for the past four days that could be so important?"

Leo looked back at Raph the same concerned expression mirrored on his face. "I wish I knew."


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Sorry for the incredibly long wait…. And kudos if you have managed to wait this long.

Chapter 2

Donatello awoke with a start the last remnants of his dream fleeing from his waking mind. Looking over at his bedside clock the turtle was mildly surprised he had only been asleep for 5 hours. The last thing he remembered was being so tired he thought he would keel over from a stiff breeze. Rubbing his hand across his face Don finally remembered the reasons behind his exhaustion and jumped out of bed. It was more of a fall but now wasn't the time to be pedantic.

As Donny ran through the kitchen door he didn't expect to be tackle hugged by his younger brother, but luckily he managed to stay on his feet. Falling over turned out to be the lesser of two evils as Donnie came to realize that Mikey's vice like grip was seriously cutting off his supply of oxygen.

"Mikey…. MIKEY, need air!"

Quickly releasing his brother, Michelangelo stepped back a sheepish grin spreading across his face. "Heh heh, sorry bro'."

"That's alright Mikey, as much as I don't understand your need to hug me to death. It's alright."

The look Michelangelo gave Donny was enough to make him panic. His little brother was upset, and that was one thing he couldn't stand.

"Dude, you scared the bejeebers out of us. I mean one minute you're running into the room grinning like a maniac and then you just collapse." Watching the scene replay in his mind once more Mikey couldn't help the small giggle which escaped his lips. It was kind of funny after all.

"You better watch out for Raph though, bro. He'll be on a war path, now he knows you haven't slept in four days."

At the mention of his older brother's over protective tendencies Donny just rolled his eyes. "Yeah well he'll just have to wait to knock me out again. My latest project is too important."

"Is it laser beam eye contacts? How about flying boots? Oh no wait…. What about a never ending pizza that just rejuvenates every time you eat a piece?"

And his brothers thought he was the crazy one. The places Mikey's imagination took him, Donny would never know.

"Not even close, Mikey. Let me get something to eat and then I'll show you guys." His stomach grumbled loudly betraying the fact that Don also hadn't eaten much of anything in the four days he'd been cooped up in his lab. Vast quantities of coffee and the occasional sandwich only got a turtle so far.

Donny was just sitting down enjoying his leftover pizza from two nights before when the raging bull himself stormed into the room.

Amazingly he just came up to the table and stopped, crossing his arms angrily in front of his chest. Donny was expecting at least a slap to the back of the head.

"So, you wanna tell me what's so goddamn important that you decided to almost kill yourself to finish?"

If looks could kill Donny would have fallen flat on the floor for a second time that day.

"Raph come on. Don't you think you're being a little dramatic?"

"ME DRAMATIC? I'm not the one practicing my swooning in the living room. We already know what a girl you are anyway, Donny .You didn't need to prove it. You can't even hit the Foot with your little stick, without getting all upset about it. But I guess you have a new ninja technique now. All you have to do is flutter your eyes at them and fall over. You'll probably be just as effective in battle. I mean what were…"

Before Raph could really get going Don though it a good idea to save him the effort. It was usually a good idea to let Raph release his anger before it became critical, but Don just didn't have enough time to hear it today. "You finished now, Raph?" He interrupted.

"For a genius you're the biggest idiot in New York. Even the hobo living in the alleyway on 3rd knows to sleep when he's tired."

"Yes well, unlike the hobo on 3rd, I've found a way to…."

"To what? Come on Donny just tell me what the big secret project is? You usually get carried away but I've never seen you go this far. Well except when Master Splinter was in all those data bytes."

"Raph you don't understand. I've been working on this since I was 12. It's pretty much my life's work."

The look on Raph's face would be funny if Donny wasn't still too tired to actually move his facial muscles into a smile. Turtles really do have large mouths, and when they're hanging open all the way the sight can be rather hilarious.

"Whoa….! You've been working on this for 8 years?"

"Yeah and I've only just had the breakthrough I've been looking for 4 days ago."

"Well, little bro finish your shelling pizza."

"What?" Donatello thought for sure his brother would drag him to the lab and force him to show him what the project was.

"Finish your food, and then you're showing me what this is all about." To explain his odd request a bit more Raphael added , "I just don't want you keeling over again half way through the brainiac explanation you're bound to have. I'll grab everyone else and meet you in your lab in 5."

XXXXXX

As Raph left the room, Donny looked down at his now cold pizza wondering if he was ready for what was to come. Yeah he'd been working for half his life on this idea and to see the results he'd been waiting for after all this time was more exciting than anything. But once Don told his family nothing would ever be the same. Suddenly Don didn't think he could stomach the pizza in front of him.

Shuffling towards his lab, Donatello let the memories that covered their lair smother his thoughts. It was nice to let the comforting reminders of their old life fill him when he was standing on the brink of ultimate change.

Spotting a dent in the wall Donny remembered the skateboard accident which caused it. Mikey had been trying to grind down the stairs and do a hand spring off a small trampoline before skating away. His little brother could grind down the stairs in his sleep, but unfortunately one of the springs broke on the trampoline sending him head first into the wall across the room. Seven stitches later Donatello forbid anyone using trampolines found at the dump. They were thrown out for a reason after all.

A small smile was still present on his face as Don reached his lab, still thinking how Mikey howled more about the loss of his trampoline then his bleeding head. His family was already present and accounted for all with expectant looks on their faces. Mikey actually looked like he was about to burst with anticipation.

"My Son, Raphael has told us that you wish to unveil your latest discovery?"

Respectfully bowing to his father and Sensei, Don replied, "Yes Master. I've been working on this a really long time." A sad smile appeared on their brother's face which left the rest of the strange family confused. Usually at this point Don was jumping with anticipation of telling his family what he had for them. "I've wanted this for you guys for so long. I made it for you."

At this Leonardo came forward and lay a comforting hand on Don's shoulder, "Everything you do is for us Donny. And we love you for it." It was the truth. It was a very rare occasion when Don ever worked on something for his benefit alone. Leo liked to think his pacifist brother didn't have a selfish bone in his body.

The room became still until Mikey couldn't contain himself any longer. "DUDE, just tell us what it is before I explode."

Jerking out of his contemplation Donny turned to his little brother and couldn't help but smile a little bit. Michelangelo was practically bouncing off the walls.

"Alright, keep your shell on your back." Donny let his gaze wander over each family member before taking a deep breath. Raph had commandeered the only chair in the room leaving Master Splinter and Mikey to sit on the bed. Leo was gazing attentively as he leaned against the desk. _They were all ready…he hoped. _

"Ok this all started when we were 12 years old. You'll most likely remember the day Master Splinter first told us about how we were mutated as well as I do. You probably don't remember the days following the big announcement though or how I barricaded myself in my bunk."

"We thought you were sick? Master Splinter told us you were contagious and not to go near you." Leonardo supplied from his position looking towards their old Sensei with confusion.

"Yes my sons. I did not want you to bother your brother until he had sorted through that which troubled his mind."

With Master Splinter's confession Donatello picked up the story once more. "Well I was actually thinking about the ooze. When we came in contact with the ooze we were turned into part human part turtle creatures because the last DNA we were in contact with had been human. Probably the kid who bought us at the pet shop. The same goes for Master Splinter except for the fact he's a rat and the last person he had contact with was his Master Yoshi. "

"Yeah, so what Brainiac? We already knew all that." Raph snapped clearly annoyed at his brother's insistence on giving them a lecture. Raph always liked to get straight to the point. Don just glared at his brother telling him to be patient.

"So it gave me an idea. It's why I've always been so obsessed with our origins. It wasn't until we found TCRI and the Utroms though that I was really able to prove that my theory was correct. Nothing would have come of this if the Utroms hadn't given me a sample of the ooze to study. And I know you may not like to hear it but Bishop's little mutagen accident actually helped a lot."

"Donny what are you saying? That Bishop actually helped you?" Leo asked a frown marring his brow.

As thoughts of his time as a monster filled Donatello's head he couldn't help but grimace. It really hadn't been a pleasant time for him. Not the months or sickness leading up to the transformation, the incredibly painful transformation itself or finally the weeks of nightmares following his return

"Well obviously he didn't help me personally" Don looked over to see Raph muttering something under his breath. Luckily it was too quiet for Master Splinter to hear because being about Agent Bishop it probably wasn't a nice compliment. "But Bishops' crude experiments gave me another piece of the puzzle you might say. It was by studying the process in which I myself transformed that I was able find the breakthrough I did four days ago."

"OH my God Donny! Just tell me what you've done. I can't take the anticipation anymore bro." Mikey had finally burst. He was never the patient one that was for sure. Don felt sympathy for Master Splinter, thinking back to the time he had taught them all to meditate. It had taken Mikey many months before he was able to do it without throwing bits of paper at his brothers in boredom.

Finally relenting, Don told them in the simplest terms he knew how, giving his younger brother an eye roll in exasperation. "I can now finish our mutations. I can turn us human."


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I do not own the TMNT franchise_

Chapter 3

"You can what?"

The room had fallen completely silent after Donatello's announcement. Each of his family was staring at him in shock and Raph's stunned question didn't seem to shake them out of it. Don was left looking between each of his family's comical responses. Mikey's mouth was gaping like a suffocating fish, Leo blinking repeatedly and Raph's eyes growing to the size of a pizza dish. Master Splinter was the only one who seemed to have any semblance of calm but then he was always the best at hiding his emotions.

Don sighed in exasperation "Do you really want me to go through the entire explanation again?"

"No thanks brainiac. Just skip to the last part again."

"I'm 88% sure that I can complete our mutations and make us human."

"Wait only 88%? What about the other 11%?" Leonardo ever the cautious turtle never liked less than 100% odds.

Now that the shock had worn off slightly Mikey's face split into a giant grin. It looked like all his birthdays had come at once. "Are you kidding me? Who cares about a little 11%? We're going to be human. First thing I'm going to do is go to an arcade and then the mall. I'll have to ask April where all the girls hang out so I can go talk to them without them running away. It's going to be AWESOME. "

"Whoa… slow done there Mikey. Donnie is this even safe?"

"Well….ah….it's safe enough. I mean there's a very slight chance the process could result in mutation more along the lines of Bishop's virus. And the possibility of…. Ah… Death is very miniscule. "

"So not really?" Raph sarcastically remarked.

"Look guys. We've been dreaming about this our entire lives. Isn't a little risk well worth the outcome? We could live normal lives, out in the open. I know we all got a taste of that when we were in the future, and I for one want that feeling back. Look, if you let me just run a couple of individual tests, I can find the likelihood of anything going wrong. I promise you that I would never suggest we do this if I thought the probability of hurting one of you was too high."

"We know you wouldn't, Donnie" Leo placed a comforting hand on Donnie's shoulder before sighing. This really wasn't an argument he was going to win. How could he not let Donnie try? If Donatello succeeded they could live a life without fear of being stolen and experimented on or having a mob hunt them down like monsters. "Ok, why don't you do your tests and we'll go from there."

Raph high fived Mikey behind Leo's back "Alright! What do you think I'm going to look like? I bet I look like Brad Pitt? I've always thought we had similar personalities."

"If you think you'll look like someone with your personality you're gonna be looking like Bozo the clown."

"Ha ha Raph, very funny. At least I won't look like Homer Simpson."

"Why you little pipsqueak." Raph lunged forward prepared to strangle his brother in a very Homer Simpson move, but Mikey was faster and quickly ran behind Master Splinter for protection.

Master Splinter gently raised his hand stopping Raph in his tracks. "My sons this is a very important date in our stories and you should show your brother more respect. He has accomplished something great. Something I have dreamed for my son's since the day you came into my life."

Donatello bowed his head in honour of his father, "Thank you, Master. All I need is a blood sample from each of you and I'll be able to tell you more accurately if this will work. It might take an extra day, but if it will put your mind at rest I'll run the extra test." Don looked pointedly at Leo who nodded his head, acknowledging the extra work Donnie was doing for his sake.

"Dude, needles? You know how much I hate needles."

"Shut it, Mikey. Would you rather Don coming at you with a needle… or me coming at you with my sais?"

"Ahh… I think I'll take Don." Mikey said slowly backing away from his aggressive older brother.

Donatello grinned at his brother's antics. Even with the hope of being human looming over their heads they couldn't be serious for more than ten minutes.

XXXXXXX

The longest part of running the individual tests actually turned out to be getting the needle into Mikey's vein. Every time Donatello went to puncture his arm he would jerk it away. This happened five times before Donnie called in his older brothers to hold Mikey's arm down. The testing was finished quite quickly but for the rest of Donnie's family it was an agonizing wait.

When Donnie walked out of his lab the second time it was with none of the exuberance from that morning. A turtle's face doesn't have much capacity to show expressions which held true for the mutated variety, but as soon as Don walked out of his lab his entire family knew something was very wrong. If Don couldn't count cards he would lose poker every time. His poker face was terrible.

Looking at the four expecting faces in front of him Donnie let out a sigh, "I have good news, and well pretty terrible news."

"How about you start with the good news, and just stop there." Mikey pleaded.

"Alright then, the good news is that there shouldn't be any complications for the four of us." Donnie explained gesturing at his brothers.

"Well that's awesome news, bro."

"Well not so much." Looking towards his master, Donnie's eyes filled with apology. "I'm so sorry Master, but it seems… well according to the results the transformation would put too much strain on your body."

Master Splinters face showed shock for a second or two before quickly changing back into the accepting father figure they all knew and loved.

"That is alright my son. I have spent many years in this form, and I'm quite comfortable spending many more in it. This is a journey you and your brothers must take alone."

Moving forwards Master Splinter gently placed a hand on Don's shoulder but when he spoke he addressed all his sons. "I do not want you to be sad that I cannot experience the new life you shall face. I have been blessed to be able share in your lives thus far. I am quite content with my place in this World as long as you four are happy."

Each turtle respectively fell to their knees bowing their heads to honour their sensei and father.

Leonardo was the one to reply to their father stating plainly what each turtle was thinking. "You shall always be a part of our lives Sensei. We owe you everything we have become."

When the moment shared between the family had passed Mikey was as usual the one to break the silence. "Wow! Dudes, I can't belie we're going to be human. This is sooo totally rad."

"Actually Don, you think you can turn Mikey into a slug with no mouth instead? You'd be doing the World a favour.

"Sometimes I think you're right Raph."

XXXXXX

It took Donatello the better parts of three days to finalize the procedures. It would have only taken two but his brothers weren't letting him work without lots of breaks and sleep. Donatello's little collapse had shaken them a bit more than they were willing to admit. They wanted Donatello to hurry but not at the expense of his health.

On the third day Raph came into Dons lab with his lunch only to find Donatello just sitting in his chair staring into space.

"Yo Brainiac. What you staring at?"

Seeing Raph walk in with lunch Don quickly snapped out of his daze, "Oh thanks Raph."

"So what's so interesting? I thought you were racing to finish the preparations for our big transformation."

"Well, I've finished."

"Whoa, nice goin'. So what are we waiting for, let's get morphing?"

Don cocked his head to the side and looked up at his older brother with a disbelieving glare, "Raph, this is a huge moment in our lives. We shouldn't just rush into it. Besides I think it best if we wait until tomorrow when April can be here. It's better that she's here in case anything goes wrong."

"Well I guess that makes sense. So what were you thinking about?"

Not usually one to talk about feelings or anything even similar, Raph's question surprised Don so much he almost forgot to answer.

"Huh… Well I was just thinking about what life will be like up there. I know we've been dreaming of it our entire lives but now that it's actually a possibility…I just wonder if…. Forget about it."

"Come on Donny boy, what were you gonna say?"

Suddenly Donatello got particularly flustered and a reddish hue shadowed his cheeks. "What if we've been taking this existence for granted. I mean what if without being the only four cognitive humanoid terrapins in the world we lose what keeps us so close. It's not like any of us have much in common and I've never heard of any human families which interact the way we do. I just don't want to lose my brother's in the big wide world."

Donatello's eyes became downcast so he was completely unprepared for the slap which landed on the back of his head. "Owww… What was that for?"

Looking up at Raph, Don could tell he was less angry than exasperated. "You think we're just going to go up there follow the first dame we see and never talk to each other again. Jeese Donny! Here I thought you were smart?"

"Hey it's a valid fear. I mean just look at Leo. He went off to Central America and wound up not contacting any of us for an entire year. And that's when he is still a turtle."

Raph sighed and an unusual softness flooded his eyes as he placed a supporting hand on the younger turtles shoulder. "Well that's Leo for you, but I'm promising you Don that is not me. I mean where else am I going to get my bike upgraded and fixed. You think I can trust one of those puny human mechanics with my baby?"

"Well pretty soon we're both going to be one of those puny humans." Don said with a smile finally lighting up his face. He knew it was a high probability that the relationship he had with his brothers would change dramatically once they became human, but he knew that they would always be there for him when he needed them. That was one thing no transformation could change.

"Look Donny, don't go fillin' your overly large head with that kind of thinking. I know we've been to the future and all but now we actually have one and it's all thanks to you bro. I mean I wouldn't mind spending the rest of my days kicking butt as a turtle but living in the sewer and only being able to have a conversation with 5 other people that doesn't involve screaming gets old…fast."

"Hey Raph what's the first thing you're going to do once we transform?"

Raphael chuckled, and lightly punched his brother in the arm "That's easy. I'm going for a nice long walk through the city in the sunlight."

Donatello was surprised; he thought Raphael would want to do something less well… tame. But thinking it through Don couldn't think of anything more appropriate after living in the darkness under the streets of New York their entire lives. "Yeah that sounds really nice. Mind if I join you?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Brainiac."

TBC

_AN: Hey so someone raised the point that the turtles just can't be awesome if they aren't turtles and that this story is sort of a crime against the show/movies/universe. I kind of believe that myself but also think it really depressing if they never have a chance to evolve from what they are. I think the turmoil in the most recent movie is proof that the turtles are getting sick of only interacting with each other and a select few. They seemed to me to be craving making their presences known in the world but being unable because their form would be instantly rejected. Therefore by writing this story I am giving them that chance. At least in my own head and anyone who reads this story (probably not many) _


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